Pensieve for Your Life
by clarasfez
Summary: Whouffle Hogwarts AU: With a dark wizard conquering France, where 16 year old Clara Oswald has been living since she was a child, Clara is forced to return to Britain and finish her education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. While there, she takes a liking to a certain Head Boy.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Clara looked around the crowded platform for a friendly face. She saw no one she knew, as she'd expected but there was bound to be someone who would be more than happy to help her.

Like a gift from Merlin, a grinning blonde approached her. "You alright?" she asked.

"Um yeah – well, bit lost. I'm meant to go see Professor McGonagall 'before the sorting ceremony' apparently."

The blonde smiled. "This way," she said, nodding her head in the direction the majority of the crowd was moving in.

"Oh, but she said I was supposed to get there the quickest way, as in before most people got there."

"Don't worry, you'll get there in time," the blonde assured her, heading off.

Clara followed her anxiously. This was nothing like Beauxbattons. "So, what's your name?" she asked once the crowd had become more dispersed and there was room to breathe.

"I'm very disappointed with you," the blonde said with a chuckle.

Clara raised an eyebrow in her direction, "Sorry?"

"I know it's been what, eight years? But I recognised you."

"What? Who are you?" Clara asked.

"It's Rose, remember?"

Clara's jaw dropped. "Merlin's beard…" Rose had been her best friend before she'd moved. They'd lived in the same area. They said they'd keep in contact but that's hard to do when you're eight.

Rose laughed and pulled Clara into a hug, "So how was Paris?"

Clara gave a small smile, "Good."

Rose sighed, sensing Clara wasn't referring to recent times. "Same here. Well, it's better now though."

Clara had been terrified when her dad told her where she'd be going to school.

_"But Dad people died there!"_

_"And people are dying here right now. We've got no other choice, Clara. I'm sorry. But it's better over there now. Voldemort's dead."_

_"I know that, but what about the girl who died there two years ago?"_

_"One of the Master's followers. But now that he's moved on over here, they'll have moved on too."_

The rest of the journey took only a few silent seconds. Rose walked to the front of one of the carriages, fishing something out of her pocket.

"How are we supposed to get to the castle quickly?" Clara asked, exasperated. "The carriages don't have anything to pull them!"

She looked to Rose who had her palm up and bits of what looked like nuts were disappearing from it. Rose stroked the air, ignoring Clara's question.

"What are you doing?" Clara asked.

"Bribery," she told her before moving and hopping into the carriage. "Come on, then."

Clara climbed on, feeling slightly embarrassed. She should have guessed they were enchanted.

Lots of carriages were taking off up the path to the castle but Clara and Rose's carriage went in a different direction. "Shortcut," Rose explained after seeing Clara's worried look.

"McGonagall's probably just gonna get you sorted," Rose told her after a while of tense silence.

"Oh yeah I read about that. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, right?" Clara knew she was right. She'd read Hogwarts: A History twice on the ship over.

Rose nodded. "Yep. 'm in Gryffindor."

Clara laughed. "I'm not surprised. Remember the time you stole that pygmy puff?"

Rose chuckled. "Course I do. I still think he would have been beautiful with some yellow streaks."

"He'd look like you if he had." When she was younger, Rose almost always wore pink to the frustration of Mickey – _"I can't be hanging about with all that pink!"_

"How is Mickey these days anyway?" Clara wondered aloud.

"He's good. Hufflepuff."

Clara smiled. Hufflepuffs seemed like a good bunch.

The carriage came to a stop and Clara turned to see the castle mere feet away. It may not have been like a castle from a fairytale like Beauxbattons, but it was beautiful.

* * *

"That's her office. I assume she gave you the password?"

Clara nodded.

"Well, I best be off then. See ya at dinner if you're _brave_ enough." Rose winked and headed off.

"Cat-a-coon," Clara said once Rose was out of earshot (she'd been given specific rules not to let anyone hear the password).

The grand bird moved and turned to reveal a staircase. Clara stepped forward and walked up the spiral case, with each step she became more excited. This place was screaming with history. She wasn't too fond of History of Magic, but she was always intrigued by stories.

She reached the top and her eyes immediately darted to the woman sitting behind the desk.

"You must be Miss Oswald," she greeted, standing up and giving her hand. Clara walked over quickly and shook it. Professor McGonagall didn't seem like a woman to cross. "Yes, that's me," Clara confirmed.

McGonagall smiled. "I assume you know of the housing system?"

Clara nodded. "Yes, Professor. I read Hogwarts A History before I came." McGonagall had stood up and was walking towards an old raggedy hat on a stool, her back to Clara but Clara could have sworn McGonagall smiled slightly.

She picked the hat off of the stool and brought it over to Clara. "This is-"

"The sorting hat," Clara interrupted. "Sorry."

McGonagall nodded and placed it on Clara's head.

The hat moved and Clara gave an instinctive jump.

"Ooh now you, Clara Oswald could be in many houses. You're loyal and caring, like a true Hufflepuff but despite being a little jumpy I can't help but recognise your potential in Gryffindor." The hat paused before finally coming to a decision.

"Yes, many contenders but only one house is truly for someone. With a mind like yours, it better be RAVENCLAW!"

Clara smiled as McGonagall took the hat off of her head. It was a shame that the only people she knew were in different houses, but after eight years it was still a pretty fresh start with Rose and Mickey.

"The Head Girl will be here soon, she's in your house so she will be able to show you to your dormitory where you can change into your house clothes. All your belongings have been brought up. Why don't you have a biscuit while you wait?" McGonagall extended her hand which was holding an open tartan tin.

Clara politely took one and thanked the Professor. It was then that two other students entered the office; one girl, one boy. Clara assumed these were the Heads and that the dark girl was the one who'd be showing Clara to her room. The boy was a tall, handsome Hufflepuff who'd rebelled against the usual school tie and instead worn a yellow and black bowtie. They both smiled at Clara and she smiled back.

"It is good to see the both of you," McGonagall said, smiling fondly at the two of them. "Miss Jones will you please show Miss Oswald here to her dormitory, she is to be joining your house. Mr Smith can inform me what the both of you have planned for the year."

Miss Jones nodded, "No problem, Professor." She smiled at Clara and headed back to the stairs, Clara following after a quick smile to Mr Smith and Professor McGonagall.

"I'm Martha," the Head Girl told her once they were out of the office. "Clara," she said, extending her arm. Martha shook it. "And that," Martha nodded her head in the direction of the office, "was John. But people call him the Doctor because in first year he took medicine from the hospital wing and posted them to a hospital in the Muggle World because he felt bad for them not having medicine as good as we do."

Clara smiled. "That's cute."

Martha laughed. "_He_'s cute. I know you noticed."

Clara blushed. "_I did not_," she argued, her tone resembling that of a seven year old. Martha gave her a '_Don't even bother' _look. "Okay, maybe a little." They both started laughing as they made their way up a flight of stairs.

"Are you and him…?" Clara began but she had a feeling she knew the answer.

"God no. I used to fancy him but I'm way over that now – doesn't mean I can't appreciate a pretty face when I see one though."

Clara chuckled, she already liked Martha. Maybe settling into the school wouldn't be as hard as she thought.

"So where did you go before here?" Martha asked as they passed through a corridor of shining armour.

"Beauxbatons," Clara told her.

"I assume you moved there? You don't look French," Martha said with a smile.

"Yeah I lived there since I was eight."

They chatted the rest of the way to the dorm and she was grateful Martha didn't mention the reason Clara had moved.

"Here we are," Martha declared when they reached the Ravenclaw Tower. There was no handle on the door, just a bronze eagle knocker. The two of them impatiently waited for the riddle. "First, think of a person who lives in disguise; who deals in secrets and nothing but lies; next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend; the middle of middle and the end of end? And finally give me the sound often heard during the search for a hard-to-find word; now string them together, and answer me this; which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"

The two of them stood puzzled for a moment before Martha exclaimed, "Got it! It's a spider."

The door slid open and the two of them strolled inside. The common room was wide and circular, furnished with tables, chairs and overflowing bookshelves. It was decorated in almost all blue and bronze as to be expected.

"The dorm's just through there," Martha told her, pointing to a door behind a statue of who Clara recognised to be Rowena Ravenclaw.

"Just look for your trunk and your uniform should be with it on your bed."

Clara thanked her and followed her instructions, quickly getting changed into her new house colours. She felt it appropriate that her knew house colour be blue, like the Beauxbatons uniform. It was a different shade entirely, but blue all the same.

Clara returned to the common room after just three minutes and the two of them headed to the Great Hall. They arrived the same time as almost everybody else and Clara was grateful that Rose had known how to take the shortcut. She imagined she'd be in a stressful hurry if they'd taken the normal path. She could see Rose at what she assumed was the Gryffindor table seeing as red and gold were the only house colours she could see at the table. Clara waved at her and Rose pretended to be disgusted at the sight of Clara being in Ravenclaw.

"We're here," Martha told her, pointing to the table nearest the fire. They sat next to each other half way down the table and were soon joined by some of Martha's friends.

"What year are you in?" an odd girl named Idris asked.

"Sixth," Clara told her.

Martha made a noise of disappointment, "I'm in seventh. Oh well, I suppose it's best you don't jump straight into your NEWTS, being at a new school and all."

Clara nodded. "That's what I was thinking too. I –" It was then that Professor McGonagall silenced the hall and the sorting ceremony began with the sorting hat singing.

Clara was too busy searching the Hufflepuff table to see if she could recognise Mickey to pay much attention. She couldn't find him, concluding that he'd either changed so much that she couldn't recognise him like Rose had or his back was facing her. She did however, find John. He was looking absentmindedly around the hall until his head darted back to the sorting hat and his expression changed from that of content blankness to worry and possibly fear. Clara looked back to see what it was that had triggered this change but the sorting hat's song was over. Clara saw that the air to the rest of the hall had turned grim too. She wanted to ask, but the silence kept her quiet.

The sorting ceremony started and ended and McGonagall had the hat taken away and said a simple, "Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts and let the feast begin." The food suddenly covering the tables seemed to lighten the mood considerably. So much so that Clara forgot about the worry that had been injected into the students during the sorting hat's song.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter and stick around for the rest! Reviews are really appreciated and motivate me to write more x**


	2. Chapter 2

***A/N: Thank you to everyone who followed, favourite and reviewed! It's really appreciated and all of you were so lovely and didn't point out that I accidentally called McGonagall 'Dumbledore' at one point. And in answer to saharajohanson's question, I'm in Ravenclaw according to Pottermore which I was very pleased with.**

**Chapter Two**

It was Monday morning and Clara was already late for her first class: Charms. She had been looking forward to it too, which is why she was particularly annoyed with herself for getting lost. Martha had given her directions at breakfast which she vaguely remembered. She guessed she must have taken a wrong turn because even before classes had begun she saw no one who looked to be in her year.

She retraced her footsteps, hoping she'd find another student running late or a teacher who could show her in the right direction. She was quite literally retracing her steps (walking backwards that is) when she gave a yelp as she backed into someone.

"Woah-sorry," a male voice said as he helped to steady her. Clara looked up to see the familiar face of John Smith. "Sorry, I was the one walking backwards," she apologised, laughing to prevent her cheeks from turning pink.

"Oh it's fine," he assured her. "You're Clara, right?" He knew he was right. She nodded. "Since the last time I checked. John Smith, yeah?"

He made a face of disapproval, "Only the Professors call me that." He extended his hand. "I'm the Doctor."

"Oh yeah, the medicine-mailer," Clara recalled as she shook it. "That's me," he said with a grin. "What are you doing here anyway? Lost?"

"Yeah," she admitted, "'Meant to be in Charms."

"Luckily for you, I have a free period right now. Follow me." With a swoosh of his cloak, he turned back down the corridor he'd been coming from.

"So," he began when Clara caught up to him, "how are you finding the place?"

"Well I'm not finding my way around the place very well."

The Doctor chuckled. "It takes some getting used to, but give it a week or two and you'll be proper into it," he assured her.

"That's good. Why don't they give maps?"

He scratched his very large chin in thought. "I…don't know actually. Probably something to do with not wanting people finding secret passages. It takes the fun out of it anyway."

Clara sighed. "Oh well, at least I know where I'm going for the next class. I have Care of Magical Creatures…that is by the hut outside, yeah?"

"Yeah, brilliant! I'm helping Hagrid out next class."

"You just can't get rid of me," Clara joked.

"Right, here we are then," the Doctor said, coming to a stop outside a sturdy wooden door.

"Thanks. Merlin knows where I'd have wound up."

"You're welcome." He knocked on the door and pushed it open, taking a step inside when he saw Clara didn't want to go first.

A small man, standing on a pile of books at the top of the classroom turned towards the pair as they entered.

"Morning, Professor," the Doctor greeted. "Sorry about this, I was just helping Clara here find her way to the class." Clara nodded in confirmation and waved bashfully at the Professor who she knew from dinner to be Professor Flitwick.

"Oh, not a problem at all," Flitwick said to them both. "Please, take a seat Miss Oswald, I was told you would be arriving." He gestured to a free seat beside a dark haired Gryffindor whom the Ravenclaws were sharing the class with.

"Right," Clara mumbled, putting a foot in the direction of the seat. "Oh and thanks," she whispered to the Doctor.

"Not a problem at all," he whispered in an accurate impression of Flitwick. He winked before turning and leaving the classroom.

Clara smiled to herself and sat down in the seat Flitwick had pointed out. "Hi," she whispered to the boy next to her as she took her seat.

"Captain Jack Harkness," he greeted.

Clara smiled. "Captain? Well, it's nice to meet you…what did I miss?"

"Captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team as of this year," he said proudly. "You missed nothing," he answered with a roll of his eyes. "He just talked about what we're gonna be doing for the year. But I think I know what _you'll_ be doing," he said with a cheeky grin to himself.

Clara raised her eyebrow but didn't say anything as Flitwick had cleared his throat and withdrawn his wand, signalling the beginning of the lesson. She could have sworn she saw Rose snigger from the corner of her eye.

When class finished, Clara followed her fellow Ravenclaws to Care of Magical Creatures. They moved down the grassy slope in a mass of blue and green as they merged with the Slytherins. She was warned to be wary of Slytherins but Clara didn't think they could all be that bad.

"Morning," she heard the Doctor say as he approached from behind her. "Morning," she repeated. "Why are you helping out anyway?"

"Because I like Care of Magical Creatures and I had a free morning. And, with the Slytherins I think Hagrid wanted the support."

Clara repeated the name slowly, "Hag…rid." She was trying to remember where she'd heard the name before coming to Hogwarts. She gasped in realisation, "As in Rubeus Hagrid?"

The Doctor nodded. "Yeah…why?"

Clara laughed. "Everyone talks about the time Madame Maxime – the headmistress at Beauxbatons went out with some bloke named Hagrid when she was here for the Triwizard Tournament. My first day at the school and it was all the older students were talking about."

The Doctor chuckled, remembering the time he caught them wandering the school grounds. His little first year brain had been disgusted when a fifth year had told him what they were probably up to. Dating and snogging. _Yuck_.

"Want me to spoil the surprise of what you'll be doing today?" he asked. Clara shrugged. "Go ahead."

"Murtlaps," he said excitedly, rubbing his hands together.

"Brilliant," Clara said sarcastically. "What are murtlaps?" She knew they were useful for potions but she'd never come across them.

"Oh yes they don't have them in – yes well, they're basically like rats."

"Ah." Clara liked not knowing what was used in those potions better.

"That is just peachy."

"I know," the Doctor replied with a grin, not detecting her sarcasm.

They reached Hagrid's little hut where they saw some wooden cages tucked around the side.

"I gots a real trea' fer yous today," Hagrid announced. "And the Doct-John, 'ere can vouch fer me on that."

The Doctor smiled broadly. "Oh yes – one of my favourite rat-like creatures native to Britain. That is of course after-"

Hagrid silenced him with a clap of his hands. "Righ', well, class e'ryone get yer gloves on. These critters bite if yer not careful."

The rest of the class went surprisingly smoothly. The Doctor seemed to know a deal about murtlaps so he was great at helping Clara get a grip on hers. He went around helping the other students who were having trouble when Hagrid was busy but managed to end up finding his way back to Clara for most of it. He and Clara didn't notice, but everyone else did.

***Sorry it's so short, hopefully the next will be longer. I just wanted to assure you that the first chapter wasn't just on a whim and that I do intend on finishing this. I'd really appreciate if you took the time to tell me what you think :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

In the weeks that passed, it was never discussed, but the Doctor and Clara had accepted that they were friends. There wasn't any moment that they could pinpoint their friendship forming, it was just there.

"Come on," Clara pleaded in exasperation. "Amy, just do your homework this once - it really helps, trust me."

"But I don't even understand it! How am I meant to do it?" Clara let out a deep breath. "Well, if you tried paying a bit more attention..."

"Oi! I do pay attention...or try to...Oh shut up." Clara rolled her eyes and smiled as Amy left the library after another one-sided hour of potions homework. Clara piled up the books they - well, she - had been using and carried them back to the potions section. She had put them on a small side table as she individually put them back into their rightful place.

"Clara!" She let out a shriek and quickly clasped her hand over her mouth as an angry wave of 'shush's flew their way. "Don't shout!" she whispered, "We're in a library."

The Doctor raised his hands in defence and mouthed "Sorry."

"Everyone talks in here anyway, it's not like I'm interrupting anyone's vital study time," he pointed out.

"Yeah, talking is a distraction, shouting is an annoyance."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Anyway," he began, "I came here to see if you'd heard about the Hogsmeade trip."

She nodded. "Yeah I saw it on the notice board in the common room."

"Excellent," he said, "You've got your permission form, right?"

Clara shook her head. "My Dad's kind of busy right now. Me going on a day out is the least of our worries."

The Doctor raised what little eyebrow he had. "What do you mean?"

"He's in the war," she said quietly, examining the spines on the shelves.

"Oh - I'm sorry, I-I didn't-"

"It's okay," she interrupted. "I don't mind not going, honestly."

The Doctor shook his head. "No no you can't miss this - the Three Broomsticks is celebrating it's fiftieth anniversary, I can't let you stay in here doing boring things."

Clara smiled. "I'm not forging my permission form," she told him.

"No need," he said with a grin, extracting a small piece of leather from his pocket. He opened it to reveal a tiny slip of white paper inside it. He handed it to her and she looked at it in confusion.

"Now, I know what you're thinking," he began, "Why on Earth am I giving you something that says I'm authorised to own a hippogriff?"

"That's not what it says," Clara said with a low laugh.

"What?" he asked nervously.

Clara bit her lip to stop from laughing. "It says you're single and that you like star gazing."

He grabbed it back, his face flushing red. "Well that can happen too."

"Doctor, what's going on?" she asked finally.

"It's enchanted paper," he explained, "It shows whatever I want it to show."

"And you want me to make it show my signed permission form," Clara predicted.

"Exactly!" he said.

"Nice plan but I'm positive it won't work. The teachers aren't idiots."

The Doctor frowned. "Fine, we'll do it the old fashioned way then."

Clara raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Sneaking you out," he said plainly. "There's loads of secret passages, some the teachers don't even know about. And I know the perfect one." _

* * *

"You coming?" he asked pulling the picture open like a door, revealing a dark corridor.

"And why would I want to do that?" she asked, pointing down the endless pit of black.

"Because you want to," he explained, stepping in.

"I dispute that assertion!" she murmured.

"_Come on_," he begged, poking his head out from behind the portrait. He extended his hand, waiting for Clara to take it.

She bit her lip in deliberation but finally gave in, holding onto his hand tightly as she wandered into the unknown.

"Lumos," they both said once the portrait had been sealed. "That makes it a bit better," she said, grateful to be able to see again, even if it was only a few feet ahead of her.

The two of them followed the straight passageway for what felt like an eternity but was in reality about ten minutes until they saw the sunlight creeping through the increasingly tall ceiling.

"Okay." he said once they were directly underneath. He unlatched the metal barrier with a swift flick of his wand and caught it just in time to prevent it from making a loud clatter. "After you," he said, gesturing proudly to his newly conjured ladder.

"I'm wearing a dress! After you."

He nodded. "Right," he said and began climbing. Clara bit her grinning lip and averted her gaze until she heard him sprawl onto the surface. She climbed to the top and with a helping hand, reached civilisation with barely a single stain of grass on her tights.

"So where to now?" she asked brightly. "No," she immediately said once she saw his wandering eye fall on an old house behind them that she knew to be the Shrieking Shack.

He sighed. "Fine. You're the boss."

Clara raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Am I?"

In realisation of the position he'd just handed over he huffed. "Yes, you're the boss."

She smiled and grabbed his hand. "Come on then," she said, pulling him along to the village ahead before he changed his mind and went wandering into the Shack.

"Butterbeer?" he asked, pointing to The Three Broomsticks. "Half-off for the anniversary."

"Sounds good," Clara said heading inside. "You're paying," she told him.

He rolled his eyes. "I know."

The place was crowded to the point of having no free tables but Clara managed to find a table with three free seats alongside some of their friends - Amy, Rory, Martha, Mickey, Donna and Rose.

She took a seat beside Amy with a bright, "Hey," to them all. The others greeted her in return but were soon distracted by Mickey spilling butterbeer over Martha.

"I am so sorry!" he said.

"It's fine, it wouldn't be the first time," she said, keeping a patient tone for his sake.

The Doctor soon joined, sitting down in the seat beside Clara leaving just the one across from him free. "Thank you," she said, taking the butterbeer.

"Cheers," he said, clashing cups with Clara.

"Sorry I'm late," Jack said loudly, informing the whole bar that he had arrived. He sat down in the last free seat across from the Doctor. "I would have been here earlier but things happen," he shrugged, gesturing for one of the barmen to come over. The old man handed Jack a butterbeer without asking and Jack handed over some money. "You know me so well," he said.

"So," Jack began, grinning. The Doctor and Clara rolled their eyes, knowing where this was going. "What's new for you two?" he raised his eyebrow suggestively. "For the last time, Jack, we're friends," The Doctor said exhaustedly.

Jack smiled. "Okay then, in that case." He turned to Clara and said, "Hello."

"Oh don't," The Doctor said a little louder than he meant to.

Jack clapped his hands in triumph and pointed like a gleeful kid at the Doctor, "See!"

The Doctor blushed, "I wasn- oh shut up." Clara turned in the other direction, striking up conversation with Amy, wanting to avoid that conversation.

In the middle of a casual gap in the chat, Clara's ears pricked up at words she heard from another table. "People are buying the Shrieking Shack! Can you believe it? Who'd want to live in that thing?!" She sensed that the Doctor was listening too so she stomped on his foot. "Ow!" he exclaimed, turning to Clara.

"No," she told him, "I'm the boss, remember?" He moaned in complaint, "But if someone's buying it there's got to be a reason - a _fun_ reason, _cool_ reason, _exciting_ reason-"

"Well there's _no_ reason I'm going to risk dying to see inside a creepy house." He didn't give up until Clara stopped responding, she'd made her decision and they were not going there. Never ever.

They spent the afternoon chugging butterbeer and wandering the shops, narrowly avoiding teachers on several occasions. When it was finally getting dark and it was time to head back to the castle, they went back through their passageway and this time they didn't need to hold hands.

The Doctor walked with Clara back to Ravenclaw tower. "I had fun today," she admitted, "Thanks for making me go."

He bowed his head, "It was my pleasure, Miss Oswald. We should do it again sometime - I do it quite a bit, myself."

Clara was too tired to argue. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Clara," he said with an impulsive kiss to her cheek.

"Goodnight," she repeated, turning up the staircase with a grin creeping it's way onto her face.

***A/N: I hope you liked this chapter and a big thank you to everyone who's followed, favourited and reviewed! I'm going to get more into the plot next chapter which I hope to have up in a few days and I also want to share that I hope to upload two chapters a week - maybe more over Easter! Happy reading x**


	4. Chapter 4

***A/N: Massive thank you to everyone who's been reading - the reviews have been extremely sweet so thank you thank you thank you! (Frankly, I don't think I said 'thank you' enough in that sentence)**

**Chapter Four**

"Mr Pond!" The Doctor called after Rory.

Rory stopped walking and waited for the Doctor to catch up.

"I'm not Mr Pond," he told him.

"Yes you are," The Doctor finalised. "Anyway, I came here because I need to talk to you."

Rory raised an eyebrow, "Okay…what for?"

The Doctor cautiously looked around to see if the coast was clear of Clara or anyone who would go blabbing to her but he didn't see anyone who he thought would care. Most people were outside or having a lie in anyway with it being Sunday. The Doctor hated Sundays. They were just so boring. Well, except this Sunday. He wished it could be a normal boring old Sunday instead.

He leant down and whispered, "I think I like Clara."

"Uh…okay?" Rory wasn't sure what this had to do with him.

"I need your help," The Doctor explained. "You convinced Amy to go out with you – how did you do it?"

"I'll try not to take that as an insult."

"Okay, let's face it, Rory. I'm not the best when it comes to you know…" The Doctor trailed off along with his hand movements.

Rory nodded. "Bit of an understatement."

The Doctor ignored him. "What do I do?"

Rory shrugged. "I mean, I'm pretty sure she likes you so just ask her if she wants to do something with you."

The Doctor stared for a while in thought. "Okay," he finally said bravely, adjusting his bowtie. "I'll do that."

It wasn't until he was halfway up the stairs to the Ravenclaw common room that he realised Rory hadn't given him much advice at all. He could turn back right now, he thought. He was just about to when three first year boys came trotting down the stairs. One of them gasped, "Are we allowed to go to the other houses dorms?" The Doctor cursed the timing.

"Well…when you're a Head," he answered, smiling. Knowing he couldn't seem like he'd been following them downstairs he kept walking forwards. The three of the first years headed off, two of them mumbling about how they were going to be a Head when they were in sixth year and the other telling them that there was no chance they could both be Heads and the probability of any of them being Head was unlikely when you consider how many other first years there are.

The Doctor took a deep breath and nervously awaited the riddle. He wasn't nervous about sneaking into another house or the question, he was confident he would get that right but at that moment, he hoped he wouldn't so he had an excuse to run back down the stairs.

"Munkswood," he answered easily and the door slid open. He'd never been into this common room before but he liked it. The only one apart from his own that he'd been in was the Gryffindor common room.

"What are you doing here, thief?" Idris asked. She always called him that since he stole her chocolate frog – _that she wasn't going to eat_ – in first year.

"I'm looking for Clara," he answered. "She's still here, right?"

Idris nodded her head behind the Rowena Ravenclaw statue. "She's in her bedroom. Third on the right."

"What?" he asked. "Do you not have to share?"

Idris and the group of second years huddled around the fire laughed. "Of course not. Second day of term we decided we should all have more space so almost the entire house used our combined powers to cast an undetectable extension charm. Little bit of redecorating here, renovating there and poof we've all got our own rooms."

The Doctor headed off, impressed and wandered to the third door on the right. He knocked on the door. "Clara, it's me. Can I come in?" There was a long pause. "Or could you come out? Or-or I could just come back later – or-or not, I mean I don't have to…"

"I don't know…where I am," Clara said.

"What?" the Doctor asked worriedly.

"I don't know where I am. _I don't know where I am_. Please help me, I don't know where I am," he heard Clara say in a panic.

He threw open the door to see her lying on the floor unconscious. He dived to the floor beside her, checking to see if she was alright, trying to wake her up. He was relieved to find a pulse when his head darted towards a mirror on her bed. Not letting go of Clara, he stretched to grab it. It was a glassy handheld device that looked like just an old mirror. In it, the Doctor could see a frightened Clara, repeating over and over again, "I don't know where I am." The Doctor tapped at it pathetically, but Clara couldn't see him. He withdrew his wand and pointed at it, all spells forgotten. With one last leap of hope he cast the only spell he could of: a patronus charm. When his owl had no affect he decided to do something that could work or be potentially the worst possible thing to happen in the history of the world. He hurled it at the wall, smashing it into thousands of scattered pieces.

Clara took a gasp of air and coughed as if she'd been drowning. That's what it felt like. The Doctor grabbed her tightly in relief. "You're okay, you're fine," he spoke softly into her hair. What had happened? Martha along with a number of other Ravenclaws had gathered outside the door.

"Merlin's beard!" Martha gasped, walking inside. "Is she alright? What happened her?"

"I – I don't know." He pointed to the pieces of glass on the floor. "I think her mind was trapped in it." Martha cautiously took a step towards the pieces and picked up the handle which was relatively unbroken.

"Seven years bad luck for that," someone at the door said.

"I'll go tell Professor McGonagall," another said, quickly abandoning the door frame.

"Come on," Martha said to the Doctor. "We better get her to Madame Pomfrey's."

The Doctor nodded, carefully getting to his feet while still holding Clara. He knew all too well that she was short but she had never seemed so small before.

* * *

Clara dazedly woke up a few hours later. She opened her eyes to see the Doctor at her bedside, closing his book once he noticed she'd woken.

"Hey," he said softly.

"What happened to me?" she asked.

The Doctor scratched his chin. "I was rather hoping you could tell me. Do you remember it?"

Clara thought hard, she could remember what it felt like but she couldn't remember how it had happened. "I was scared. Really scared. I didn't know where I was…"

The Doctor smiled sadly. "Well, do you know now?"

She nodded.

"Well, then sleep. Madame Pomfrey says you should."

Clara obediently closed her eyes but noticed the Doctor didn't get up to move. She opened them again. "Are you really gonna sit there all night?" she asked, "Madame Pomfrey won't let you."

He shrugged, "I won't budge from this spot."

"Well then," she said, sitting up. "I can't let you be lonely."

The Doctor smiled at her. "That was supposed to be my job."

"Yeah well you're rubbish at it when I'm asleep. What are you reading anyway?" she asked, snatching the book from his lap. _Wizard Communication of the 19th Century._

"I was trying to figure out what happened to you," he explained. "Look," he opened it to the page he'd been examining when she had woken up. "That's where you went from what I could see," he said, pointing to a picture of an almost identical mirror.

"What, I was sucked up by a mirror?" He sighed and rubbed his eyes, "I don't know. McGonagall and some of the other teachers are working it out."

Professor Mott came in soon after, with a horrified look on his face.

"What's wrong, Professor?" Clara asked. He was usually full of spirit, this was strange for him. She couldn't help but feel her heart race.

"Oh, my dear I'm so sorry," he said, reaching Clara's bed. The Doctor stood up. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Mott gave the Doctor a look of dread. "It's him," he said.

"Who? Voldemort?" the Doctor asked.

Mott shook his head. "No, my boy. The Master."

Clara felt like she'd been hit by a curse. She was dizzy and felt like she was going to throw up.

"He's got a trace on all of these mirror things he can get his hands on," Mott explained. He turned to Clara, "I'm so sorry. He found your father's. Tracked it back to you – you had the connected mirror."

"But why would he do that? What would he need me for?"

He took a deep breath. "To build an army. These are being used to keep in contact with people now since everyone's being separated and they don't trust that the post won't be intercepted, am I right?" he asked Clara.

She nodded.

"That's what I thought. Common war communication. Well he's found a way to use them to his advantage. Your dad's high up in the ranks-"

"Is he okay?" Clara croaked. She couldn't lose him too.

"I'm sorry, we don't know."

Clara felt bile rise in her throat and she wanted to scream.

"He's been using these to grab as many unwilling participants as he can – the people who agree with him have no need to use alternative methods to the post. He won't be happy that you got away but if smashing the mirror's all it takes, you wouldn't be the first. I reckon you're safe now…" But your dad probably isn't, he left out.

Clara curled into herself and buried her head in her pillow, letting out a muffled sob. She heard the Doctor mutter something to the Professor and he left.

The Doctor went back to Clara, rubbing her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. "I'm so sorry, Clara," he whispered. She didn't understand why he was really sorry and for now, the Doctor was grateful for that.

A few minutes passed and nothing changed besides Clara's increasingly damp pillow. Madame Pomfrey came over and said to the Doctor, "I'm sorry but you need to leave." He looked up, noticing for the first time that he'd been crying too. "But-" he began hoarsely.

"Rules are rules," she interrupted.

He nodded reluctantly and kissed Clara's head. "Goodnight, Clara," he said, leaving back to his common room. He almost laughed, thinking that a few hours ago his biggest worry was getting Clara to go out with him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

For the next number of days, Clara couldn't face going back to classes despite being sent back to her dormitory the morning after the incident (However, it was recommended for her to not go to them). In the evening she did the homework, not wanting to fall behind and she read ahead in the textbooks during the day, mostly to keep her mind off of her dad.

She didn't leave her common room after school hours but occasionally went for a walk in the middle of classes, careful to avoid too many people at once. Apart from the people in her house – whom she still didn't see much of – the only people she was in contact with were the Doctor and Professor McGonagall.

Clara and the Doctor had been having conversations through letters, much to the annoyance of the owls. Not wanting to have to go back and forth to the owlery, they wrote quick replies, barely two lines long so they could just strap them around the owl's leg before it took off. Clara did feel a slight guilt so she started feeding the various owls as they arrived which seemed to cheer them up considerably.

McGonagall had been sending house elves to bring Clara three meals a day as well as some biscuits with a letter, updating her on what they knew about her dad. There wasn't much to update her on, but McGonagall did it anyway. All that had really changed was that the ministry had been notified of what was being done with the mirrors and the Daily Prophet had published the news 'in hopes of preventing anything like this from happening again'.

On Thursday evening, Clara finally decided to go back to classes. She figured she'd give it a go on Friday and if she wasn't up to it at least she'd only have one day and then she could go back to her room.

Friday morning at breakfast, the Doctor's face lit up upon noticing the small brunette at the Ravenclaw table. He quickly made his way through the arriving crowds over to her.

"Clara," he cheered, "You're back!"

She smiled. "Yeah. I'm okay, really. It wasn't like I was hurt anyway."

The Doctor decided not to argue.

"Oh, Doctor!" Idris called excitedly as she slid further down the table until she was across from Clara. "Wasn't there something you wanted to talk to Clara about?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he lied, slightly flustered.

"May I remind you? You came looking for Clara and you asked her out – oh, no you haven't done that last part yet." Idris said.

Clara looked to him in surprise.

"Stop trying to predict the future, Idris. That's not what I was going to say to her," the Doctor argued defensively.

"What were you going to say?" Clara asked curiously.

"Um…" The Doctor moved his mouth but he wasn't forming words. "Just stuff. Casual friend stuff, you know." He was very proud with that response.

Idris rolled her eyes. "My thieving idiot," she whispered to herself as she slid back to where she was originally sitting.

Clara shrugged, not convinced in the slightest by his answer but too tired to argue. "What do you have first?" she asked.

"Ancient Runes," he answered. "And you?"

"Transfiguration . . . You actually take that?"

"Of course I do! You never know when it might come in handy."

Clara sighed. "You're head's gonna explode one day, you know that?"

"I look forward to it," the Doctor said jokingly. "Anyway, how are you?" he asked quietly, his tone turning serious.

"I told you, I'm fine."

The Doctor smiled at her. "Sure you are," he is tone laced in gentle sarcasm. "Which is why we need to do something tonight to get your mind off it."**  
**

"And what would that be?" Clara asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Go somewhere."

"Where?"

"Out," he replied teasingly, heading off to his own table with a smirk.

* * *

"Okay, I got your letter," Clara whispered as she met the Doctor by the same portrait they'd snuck behind to get to Hogsmeade. "I told you, I'm not going to The Shrieking Shack."

"Nor am I. We're going somewhere different." He grinned and held out his hand. Clara frowned. "I'm not sneaking out just to go to Hogsmeade. We were there last week!"

"Oh we're going someplace _way_ better than Hogsmeade, trust me."

"Would you care to elaborate?" Clara asked impatiently.

"No," he scoffed, "Ruins all the fun. Now are you coming? Or are you too scared?"

"I'm not scared," she protested.

"Then why aren't you coming?"

Clara pouted. "I'm gonna kill you one of these days," she said, pulling aside the portrait and stepping into the passage.

The Doctor sniggered and clapped his hands together before following her in and sealing the entrance.

"_Lumos_."

* * *

Four piercing screams filled the air as the bricks sprung apart to reveal an interconnected passageway. "Blimey! You scared the living daylights out of me," the Doctor complained once he'd regained his composure.

"Sorry. Not exactly our fault though," Amy pointed out.

"So you two are going to –" Rory began only to be shushed by the Doctor.

"It's _supposed_ to be a surprise," he explained, nodding to Clara.

She raised an eyebrow. "Will someone tell me what's going on and explain to me why we're all inside a secret tunnel?"

None of them said anything.

Clara groaned and brushed passed them, taking the lead and walked quickly in a huff until they reached the exit.

"I'll get it," Rory said, unlatching it with his wand, only to have the lock that had been keeping it shut, fall on his face. He let out a series of "ow"s and Amy helped to steady him, kissing the spot where it had fallen once he'd stopped moving.

The Doctor laughed until Amy glared at him. Once he stopped laughing he conjured the ladder, stepping aside to allow the others go first.

Amy went first, followed shortly behind by Rory. The Doctor looked uncertainly to Clara whom he noticed was wearing a dress this time too. Clara waved her hand, gesturing for him to go first. "Eyes front, soldier."

He climbed on saying, "My eyes are always front."

"Mine aren't," Clara bravely joked.

The Doctor's eyes widened and he looked back down to Clara on the ground.

"I'm just kidding, go on," she insisted.

He nodded, embarrassed that he didn't realise that she was joking straight away and climbed up quickly.

"It's freezing," Clara said, shivering once she reached the top. She was wearing a jacket but it wasn't thick enough. The Doctor took her hand both to provide a slight bit of warmth and so they could catch up with Amy and Rory who weren't far ahead. He imagined they had grown impatient while the Doctor was taking too long on the ladder.

"Come on," he said, "You don't want to miss this – these are great fun." He pulled her along up to the duo and Clara grinned, finally feeling excited about where they were going. It must be good if they were all still in high spirits despite the chill.

They wandered to Hogsmeade village where Clara saw that they certainly weren't the only four going. There were dozens of other groups of students all heading in the same direction.

It wasn't until Clara saw a wizard of about 40 through the window of one of the houses that she realised the Doctor's plan to take her mind of her dad was really working. Even when she'd been reluctant to go it had worked because, she hated to admit it but she knew she'd give in eventually.

They walked towards the largest house in the village along with the other excited students. "Are we going to a party?" Clara asked, suddenly feeling underdressed in her casual clothes.

"Sort of – but not the way you're probably thinking."

They joined the queue of people anxiously waiting outside the house. "It's bloody cold," Rory complained.

"Yeah," Clara agreed.

Amy nodded with chattering teeth and hugged Rory. The Doctor looked to Clara out of the corner of his eye, searching for an answer to a question he didn't ask and then awkwardly pulled his coat in tighter.

The queue moved along and the four of them made it inside the house. "Oh thank Merlin," Amy rejoiced as the warmth from a nearby fire hit her.

"Where are they anyway?" The Doctor asked, looking around for some familiar faces.

"Where's who?" Clara asked.

"Some friends of mine - well, they'll probably deny being friends with a school kid, but who do people think convinced them to do this?"

Clara raised an eyebrow but didn't bother asking anything more as two women approached.

"Good evening, Doctor," the taller one said.

"Nice to see you again," said the other.

"Vastra and Jenny, a pleasure as always," The Doctor greeted, smiling.

"Where's the old Straxy anyway?" he asked.

"Strax has gone ahead to see the festivities first hand, seeing as Jenny went last time," Vastra answered.

"Aren't you going to introduce us?" Jenny asked kindly, smiling to Clara.

"Ah yes!" The Doctor said, moving slightly to the side so he wasn't blocking her from view.

"This is my ... friend. Clara Oswald," he introduced her.

"Clara meet Jenny and Vastra," he said, pointing to each as he said their names.

"Nice to meet you," Clara said, shaking both of their hands.

"You too," Jenny said, smiling.

"Well, we best not keep these people delayed any longer," Vastra deducted, looking to the shivering students outside.

"Enjoy the trip," she told them, gesturing for the queue to move on into the next room. This must have been where the heat had been coming from, Clara realised.

The long room was lined with several grand fireplaces, all flickering a bright blue. People were stepping into them, mostly in groups despite Clara's knowledge that one person a go was recommended for this. But, when the fireplaces were big enough there was no reason to go alone when you didn't have to.

"You ready?" The Doctor asked, holding out his hand to Clara.

She nodded, taking his hand and gripping it tightly. He grinned, stepping forward into the flame.

When they opened their eyes they were alone in a dark room.

"I can't see anything," Clara said, scrambling for her wand.

The Doctor pulled her along instead. "Don't bother."

They took a few steps forward and the Doctor held up his hand and pressed it against a wall that they couldn't see. There was a flicker of orange and they took a step back, allowing the wall to flicker and fade until –

"Close your eyes," The Doctor told her.

She did so obediently, not sure why.

The wall flickered one last time until it faded into nothing, revealing the streets ahead. The Doctor stepped slightly behind Clara, putting his hands on her shoulders and leading her forward, out of the darkness.

"Can I open my eyes yet?" she asked.

He let go and returned to her side, smiling.

"Yes."

Slowly, Clara opened them, already feeling the light on her eyelids. She grinned in disbelief at the sight she saw. Rows and rows of merchants selling as many weird and wonderful objects she couldn't think of, hundreds and hundreds of people eagerly walking through and playing music. Up ahead, at the end of the vast street was what looked like a stadium.

"Where are we?" Clara asked giddily.

"Akhaten," he answered proudly.

"I've never heard of it…"

"That's because it never existed," he explained.

"Come again?"

"Well, during the war," the Doctor began grimly. "So many people went into hiding. The general way usually – disillusionment charms, things like that. _But _a group of wizards, made this place. They created a whole new plot of the Earth – making sure Voldemort and his followers didn't know about it. They obviously couldn't go blabbing about it to everyone so every day they went to any old place in Britain, went to the nearest innocent family they could see and used a fireplace to take them here. Because they were going to a place that never existed they couldn't be tracked. Genius! They planned to make this a sort of safe haven. Restart the country here, but then the impossible happened – the good won. So now, hop forward in time three years and it's a sort of memorial or tribute to those we lost, the people who never got to see the light at the end of Voldemort's tunnel."

Clara smiled, tears escaping her eyes. But she wasn't sad, not really.

"I didn't just take you here because everyone was going or because I wanted to take your mind off of things," he said, telling Clara what she already guessed, "I came here to show you that there is, surprisingly always hope."

Feeling as though she would never stop crying if she didn't do something, she leaped, embracing the Doctor in a tight hug. "Thank you," she whispered. She didn't realise how much she needed that. The Doctor smiled, glad to have helped in some way.

"Eh hem," Amy interrupted after her and Rory approached from behind them.

Clara smiled and let go of him while the Doctor turned to Amy with a look of annoyance. Amy smirked at him and Rory rolled his eyes, letting a small smile form.

"Where were you?" Clara asked.

"We ended up further down the row," Amy answered, pointing down the long line of black boxes.

"Right then," Rory started. "Should we just go straight in?"

"No!" The Doctor answered immediately. "They serve barely any food in there," he complained.

Amy rolled her eyes. "Fine, get your food, we're goin' in," she told him, grabbing Rory by the arm and pulling him in the direction of the stadium.

"Look after him!" Amy called to Clara.

"No worries," Clara called back, giggling.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and headed down through the various stands until he finally found a merchant selling some shiny, edible orbs.

"What are they?" Clara asked as he handed her one from the basket he bought.

"Let's find out," he said, taking a massive bite from one. He made a noise of approval.

Clara took a small bite and scrunched her nose at the bitterness. "I thought it would taste sugary," she explained.

The Doctor shrugged, taking another bite.

"So, if this is a memorial why is it 'fun', why is everyone so happy?"

"Because it's more of a celebration that we made it out – that it ended, rather than remembering the suffering. That's what over there is for," he answered, pointing to a distant hill to the left of the stadium.

"Memorial is up there, and in the stadium, which is where we're going tonight there's always a song at the end of the show to remember the people who died in the war – but the purpose of everything still stands. To celebrate that it's behind us and the future is always bright."

Clara smiled. "I like when you're all poetic."

The Doctor laughed. "I do my best," he joked.

"I bet you spend hours every night coming up with poetic paragraphs to learn off in hopes that one day you can use it," Clara teased.

"I do not!" he said defensively.

Clara laughed and decided to get back on track.

"But why is everyone here today?" she asked. "I mean people can't be sneaking out every night, the teachers would notice…"

"Yeah, this happens twice during the school year – the Friday following the first Hogsmeade weekend and the Friday before the last - and it has happened for the past two years. It's somewhat of a Hogwarts tradition now. It was my idea so, once Vastra and Jenny agreed to do their bit it became my responsibility to tell everybody individually and make them swear not to talk about it at all inside school grounds. This year, however I only needed to inform the first years and you."

"It's a good idea," Clara admitted, impressed. "But you didn't tell me!"

"Yes, well, I wanted to see the look on your face."

Clara smiled to herself.

"Should we be heading in?" she asked.

The Doctor checked his watch. "Yes! We'd better be, I think."

They followed the crowds into the stadium, finding that Amy and Rory had saved them seats. Rory was sitting beside a wizard who looked to be in his seventies who was there with who Clara guessed was his wife, with Amy on Rory's opposite side. The Doctor sat beside Amy and Clara after him.

"What is this show exactly?" Clara asked.

"It's sort of like a eh circus, I suppose. Just with more music and fireworks," The Doctor answered excitedly.

Clara smiled, positive she was going to have a good night.

The show began with a witch in a big red and white dress (somewhat resembling a circus tent) coming to the centre of the stage. She made a short welcome speech before she started to sing. As her voice rose, so did she. With every note, her dress grew an inch as she took off until eventually she was above them all. She reached outside the stadium, raised her wand and fireworks shot from it, twisting into shapes, glimmering and melting away as the sparks fell to the crowd before dissolving in a poof of green smoke.

The show went on for another two hours but Clara didn't notice the time pass. When a little girl in a red cloak walked to the centre of the stage and it was announced that she was going to sing the tribute.

As the girl sang, Clara couldn't help but smile despite the tears on everybody's faces. She had been thinking of her parents, which she felt was disrespectful seeing as her mum hadn't died in this war. And her dad might still be alive. She felt that by thinking of them she was taking advantage of the other people's losses but she soon came to know that that wasn't how mourning and remembrance worked. For that, she was grateful.

* * *

"That was amazing!" Clara said as they left the stadium.

"I was quite fond of the monkey with the broomstick!" The Doctor told her.

"I know. You nearly wet your pants you looked so excited."

The Doctor's eyes widened. "I didn't look _that_ excited, did I?"

"No," she laughed.

They spent another few hours around Akhaten, visiting the various places and attractions it had to offer – including one muggle sport known as crazy golf which they wished they'd found sooner – and just goofing off with the other Hogwarts students, they finally decided it was time they went back to the castle.

* * *

"That was so much fun," Clara whispered giddily, paranoid of being caught despite being a few steps away from Ravenclaw house (given the curve in the staircase, one could never be sure there wasn't somebody lurking nearby)

"I know! It's too bad it only happens twice a year, but can't have teachers starting to notice. They'd never approve of night time trips – and that's when it's interesting."

Clara nodded, unable to imagine them having permission to go.

"Thank you," she said finally.

"For what?"

"Taking me with you, teaching me that there's hope, keeping me sane when I didn't want to leave my room…for everything," she answered, smiling. She knew she would never be capable of telling him just how grateful she was. Even the greatest wizard to ever live couldn't cast a charm to string those words together. It was quite possible that they didn't exist.

The Doctor smiled at her. "Well, you're welcome."

Nervously, the Doctor took a leap of faith and leaned in, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips.

Clara pulled back in surprise, triggering a startled expression on the Doctor's face.

"I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed, turning bright scarlet.

Clara laughed softly. "Don't be," she reassured, giving him a brief kiss before they heard the sound of clattering armour.

"Peeves," Clara complained with a roll of her eyes.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she told him, quickly turning on her heel and heading lightly up the steps, her feet barely brushing the surface. She heard chatter behind the house walls but she still didn't bother to hide her grin.

"Yeah I'll – I'll see you," The Doctor called quietly after her. He heard her enter the common room but he still hadn't moved. Had that just happened? After a moment of reflection where he finally came to the conclusion that he hadn't made that scenario up in his head, he straightened up along with his bowtie, clapping his hands together and left the staircase for the Hufflepuff common room with a grin on his face.

***A/N - I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please let me know what you thought as I love to hear your opinions. And thank you again to everyone who has already reviewed/favourited :)**


	6. Chapter 6

***A/N: I'm really sorry about the wait and that it's a short chapter but I've been a lot busier over Easter than I thought I'd be. Hopefully I'll get back into a routine now though. Anyway, happy reading x**

**Chapter Six**

Clara woke brightly within a few hours. She sat up, listening for her house mates but there was no noise. She figured most of them must still be asleep. She looked up to the clock on her wall, realising why it was so quiet. It was barely 7 o' clock on a Saturday morning; no one was going to be up and lively yet. Well, except for Clara.

For a while she lay there, just thinking but it was interrupted pretty soon. Clara slipped into her fluffy dressing gown and opened the door.

"Oh, hi Jess," Clara greeted the small house elf.

"I bring excellent news for Ms. Clara," Jess piped.

"What is it?" Clara asked excitedly, her stomach doing flips.

"Headmistress has received news of Ms. Clara's father."

"He's okay?" Clara asked, resisting the urge to pick up the tiny elf and hug her.

"Indeed," Jess hiccupped, her eyes sparkling. "He's in hospital as a precaution but they say he'll be back up and running in a day or two. Headmistress will see you later today I'm to tell you."

"Yes!" Clara cheered, giving up on fighting herself and squeezing the elf tightly. Jess squeaked and Clara released her, not wanting to hurt her but still smiling. "This is fantastic, thank you."

"Clara does not need to thank Jess. Jess did nothing."

"But still, always thank the messenger when you can."

"Jess must be going to help the other elves prepare breakfast. Will Clara be having it here again?"

"No," Clara answered quickly, "No need for that anymore."

Jess clicked her fingers, materialising in the kitchen and Clara closed the door, dressing with glee. Eight o' clock came and Clara couldn't wait any longer, she had to tell someone about the news and there was only one person who knew properly.

She skipped down the steps of Ravenclaw tower and kept skipping until she reached the kitchen. Jess had shown her the way during her week off, in case Clara got hungry during the day. Clara knew the Hufflepuff common room was near here so she decided to wait by the portrait to the kitchen until the Doctor came by on his way to breakfast.

* * *

"Is Clara here?" the Doctor asked Martha after casually arriving in the Ravenclaw common room again.

"No," Martha answered. "And you're gonna have to stop coming here, you'll get caught."

The Doctor shook his head. "I won't, you can call me Mr. Sneaky. Actually, don't call me that. Never call me that."

Martha rolled her eyes. "I don't know where she is, sorry," she said.

That moment, Idris strolled into the common room. "I know where she is."

"Would you care to enlighten me?" he asked hopefully.

"She's by the kitchen. And you better go now because if you leave in more than five minutes she'll have given up on waiting and headed down to the Great Hall." The Doctor nodded in thanks and headed off, not bothering to argue with the only person who was ever genuinely good at Divination when he'd taken it.

Luckily the mad girl was right and Clara was just outside the kitchen.

"There you are!" he almost shouted. Clara spun around, mildly startled. "I was just looking for you," he told her.

Clara felt she should have asked what he had been looking for her for but she already had a fair idea and she'd explode if she didn't tell him soon.

"My Dad's okay," she blurted happily.

"That's fantastic!" the Doctor said, picking Clara up and spinning her in a hug. She giggled as her feet abandoned the floor, the spinning filling her with euphoria.

"What happened?" he asked before he finally put her back on the ground.

"I don't know the full details yet but I don't care," she said, the smile not yet faded from her face.

"Well yes I suppose that doesn't matter as long as he's safe." Clara nodded contently. "What is it you were looking for me for?" she asked.

The Doctor cleared his throat. "Ah yes that well that can wait I mean that discussion doesn't seem very relevant right now."

"Oh sure it is," Clara said. She was fairly certain what he was going to talk about but she didn't want to be the one to begin. The Doctor cleared his throat and fixed his bowtie (a habit he often had when nervous).

"Last night we you know…" he puckered his lips made an attempt at 'kissy sounds'. Clara tried to hide a smirk while she nodded. "Um and I was just wondering where-where that puts us now? Are we you know or are we still just friends – which is fine too, I mean whatever's fine with you is fine with me. Your choice, I-I won't make you do anything you don't w-"

Clara put a finger to her lip to put an end to his rambling. "Do you want to be my boyfriend?" she asked with a teasing raised eyebrow.

"Um well I . . . yes, maybe . . . oh shut up!"

Clara giggled. "Then that's settled. You're my boyfriend now." The words felt strange on Clara's tongue but she felt her stomach flutter as she said them.

"Ding dong! Okay brilliant," the Doctor said immediately. He cleared his throat and slicked back his hair. "I may be a bit rusty in some areas," he admitted, "But I will glance at a manual."

Clara laughed. "Oh don't worry, you're doing just fine on your own," she assured, patting him on the cheek.

"Why thank you very much," he said, grinning broadly.

"You're welcome. Now come on, breakfast's not for like an hour and I can smell the sausages here." She grabbed his hand and pulled him to the nearest staircase.

"You are so bossy," he teased.

"Don't pretend you don't like it."

"Ha! You think you know me so well, Ms…Ms. Bossiness."

"I so do! And seriously? Ms. Bossiness? That's the best you could come up with?"

"It's early morning, give it a few hours and I can come up with something much better."

"_Sure,_" she said sceptically.

"Oi Oswald!" he guffawed, pretending to be offended by her disbelief. "How very little faith you have in me."

Clara rolled her eyes. "So, what are we doing today? And don't pretend you don't have something planned." He grinned.

"Well I might have something planned and it may involve something very extra exciting."

Clara sighed. "You're not gonna tell me are you?"

"I don't want to, no."

"Oh come on, if you tell me I'll give you something."

"What?"

"I dunno, you can have half my chips at dinner or something, just tell me."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. We're going ghost hunting."

Clara stopped in her tracks. "What?"

He briskly turned on his heel, not realising she'd stopped until she spoke. "You heard me. Up at the Shrieking Shack."

"No."

"_No_?"

"No."

"Oh come on, Clara. We go to_ school_ with ghosts!"

"Yeah but those ones are nice. They're not haunting an old house, they're just hanging around an old school."

The Doctor pouted. "Please?" he begged, holding his hands together and giving his best puppy eyes.

Clara frowned. She would not give in. Never ever ever ever.

"Fine," she said with a sigh. She glared at him. "Don't do that," she scolded.

The Doctor laughed. "Thank you!" he exclaimed, pulling her into a hug and kissing the top of her head.

Clara went to see McGonagall at midday, learning that her dad's group had been attacked by some of the Master's followers but they didn't cause much damage and there were no casualties. After that the Doctor and Clara spent the day roaming the grounds, keeping hush about their plans to sneak out after dinner.

"What if we get caught?" Clara asked in a whisper while out by the empty lake.

"We…get detention I suppose. Dumbledore used to know I snuck out but he didn't seem to mind. McGonagall on the other hand…I don't fancy crossing her."

"And where would you two be sneaking out to?"

The Doctor and Clara jumped at the voice, turning around to see the figure standing there.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

They sighed in mutual relief as they processed that it wasn't Professor McGonagall.

"What are you doing, Jack?" the Doctor asked, sounding irritated.

"I asked you a question first," he pointed out, smirking.

"It doesn't matter," the Doctor insisted.

"If it doesn't matter, just tell me."

The Doctor glared hard at Jack, leading Clara to laugh. At the sound of her laughing, the Doctor cleared his throat.

"We're going to the Shrieking Shack if you must know."

Jack sniggered. "Very nice. Romantic."

"We're not a-" the Doctor began instinctively. But that wasn't true anymore. He and Clara _were_ a couple now. He smiled to himself at the thought, forgetting Jack could still see him.

"Oh!" Jack exclaimed, his face lighting up like a child on Christmas Day. "Ha! I knew you two would get together!" He turned over his shoulder, "Hey, Mickey Mouse!" he called. "I told you so! You owe me a butterbeer."

"Oh Merlin," Clara murmured, shielding her blushing face from view, laughing slightly.

Mickey came heading down through a path in the trees, it looked like he'd been in no rush to keep up with Jack. When he got there he was chuckling quietly to himself. "I should have known why you took off," he said to Jack.

Jack shrugged. "I have good eyesight when it comes to house colours and height differences."

The Doctor gave him a confused look, compelling him to elaborate.

"Your house scarves, genius," Jack said, tugging on the black and yellow scarf around the Doctor's neck. "I knew it would be you two."

"But why did you care that me and Clara were here?"

Clara rolled her eyes at how clueless he was sometimes. Jack didn't bother answering, laughing and leaving him to put the pieces together himself.

Realisation dawned on the Doctor's expression. "_Oh_ you _wanted_ me and-ah."

Jack patted him on the shoulder. "Well done."

The Doctor moodily pulled free of his grasp. "I knew that. I didn't know you were that obsessive about it."

"Look, I'm your friend. I just want you to be happy, John," Jack said with mock sincerity.

The Doctor ignored his obvious aim of annoying him with the use of his real name and turned around sulkily, facing the lake again.

"Aw," Clara said, rubbing his back sympathetically. She admitted that she found him quite funny when he was being childishly grumpy.

"Woah I think we better leave these two alone. Wow, get yourselves a room," Jack said sarcastically, pretending to be shocked by the sudden 'intimacy'.

The Doctor continued pretending he wasn't there and Clara looked up to Jack. "_Don't_," she mouthed, smirking.

Mickey rolled his eyes at Jack's wink. "Come on, Captain Cheesecake," Mickey said, shoving Jack in the arm. "Like you said, I think these two want to be _alone_," Mickey added, wiggling his eyebrow.

The two of them headed off and once they were far away enough that the Doctor was confident they wouldn't come back he called, "I think Jack is having a bad influence on you, Ricky!"

Clara rolled her eyes. "You're all so mature," she commented.

"I can _so_ be mature," The Doctor said confidently.

She laughed. "I'm sure you can, but until then it's kind of cute."

The Doctor looked to her, his eyes bright. "It is?" he asked happily.

Before she could answer his expression changed to that of uncertainty. "Wait, do you mean cute as in 'yay I've got a cute boyfriend' or cute as in 'he's making such a fool of himself I feel sorry for him'?"

Clara laughed, not admitting that it was a little bit of both. "The first one," she told him, shifting to give him a hug.

He sighed in relief, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. "You know, that is fantastic news because I was starting to worry you just felt sorry for me."

"No, of course not," she insisted, turning her head to kiss his cheek with a smile on her face.

The Doctor grinned giddily. He liked this, just the two of them being all couple-y. He could get the hang of it eventually. He probably should get a manual or something to help him though, he thought. It wasn't as if he could ask anyone about this kind of thing. There was always Rory – him and Amy had been together for ages – but the Doctor couldn't imagine Rory wanting to give him manly dating advice.

Clara pulled away, leaving her hands rest on her lap. "So what do you want to do now?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I dunno. You hungry?" he asked.

Clara tilted her head. "I suppose."

He grinned. "Well, come on then," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet. He made to start running but her feet resisted. "I'm hungry, not starving," she told him."

"Right," he said, trying not to sound disappointed. He always liked running. "That's okay I can walk. To the great huge Hogwarts kitchen with it's ovens and ingredients…free to use if the house elves like you…which they do…"

Clara shook her head. She'd told him she liked making soufflés ages ago and he'd always said that they should go to the kitchen sometime, but with Clara not knowing where it was that wasn't as easy to organise so they never got around to actually going.

"Glad to hear it," she said, ignoring his attempted persuasion. They made their way through the grounds to back to the castle, albeit slowly in the Doctor's opinion. Not that he minded holding Clara's hand. That was when they bumped into Hagrid.

"Ah hello!" he greeted them. He must have noticed their intertwined hands because he laughed and said, "You's best be tellin' Harkness to put him out of his misery."

"He knows," they said simultaneously, laughter echoing after.

"Well I 'spect he's having a great day then," Hagrid guffawed, letting his coat shift to reveal small glass bottles in his pockets.

"What're those?" the Doctor asked, nodding to them.

Hagrid's face turned serious. "Nothing," he said, tightening his coat. "Well I best be letting yer off. I'll be seein' ya in class then. G'bye, Clara. G'bye, Doctor."

Hagrid moved around them quickly, walking almost nervously to his hut.

"What was that about?" Clara asked.

The Doctor kept looking after him even once he was home. "I don't know," he answered. "And I really don't like not knowing."

"It's probably nothing though, right?" Clara asked in an attempt to comfort him. She didn't like seeing the worried look on his face. She knew he had a good bond with Hagrid but she hadn't wondered why until now. She didn't ask.

"Yeah probably," the Doctor said, though he didn't believe it. He shook his head as if to shake the memory from his head. "Anyway, we were off to the kitchen," he said, putting his wide smile back on.

Clara gave a small smile. "Yeah."

They headed to the kitchen, their spirits rising higher as they forgot about Hagrid.

"I just tickle the pear yeah?" Clara asked.

He nodded, letting his arm out as if to say 'you first.' Clara giggled, feeling more than a little bit ridiculous as she put her fingers to the painting. She tickled it, the Doctor laughing at her stiffness.

It transfigured into a green door knob and Clara twisted it, peaking in to see an enormous room with a tall ceiling. There were pots and pans and food everywhere. Seemingly scattered but in the right place at the same time.

She giddily grabbed the Doctor's hand and pulled him in. "Oh um hello," she said, waving at the house elves that she hadn't noticed upon first glance through the doorway.

"Hello," the Doctor greeted happily, clearly accustomed to this. House elves approached excitedly; glad to see their friend again. The house elves took their coats and The Doctor made casual chat with them until the crowd of tiny tennis ball-like eyes finally dispersed.

"So, come here often?" Clara asked teasingly.

He leaned his arm against the wall - this was a cool thing, yeah? Must be, he thought. It required strength and steadiness and balance – all impressive things! "Yeah I do. The house elves are really fon-" The Doctor suddenly remembered that he did not have much strength, steadiness or balance at all when his arm slid from the wall and he fell to the floor, instinctively grabbing Clara to keep him upright but just dragging her down with him instead.

They landed on the floor with a loud thud with none of the house elves seeming to care. Luckily for Clara, her fall was cushioned by the Doctor. For a moment they stared at each other in stunned silence before they both burst into laughter, feeling each other laugh against one another.

"Well that was smooth of me," he said sarcastically. "But," he added, "I think right about now Jack would congratulate me." Clara mouth dropped open in surprise at what he was suggesting. "Wow," she said through a soft giggle. "I think he's been a bad influence on you too."

He smiled. "I think you're probably right. I'll go tell him that."

Clara laughed before giving him a soft kiss, her lips barely brushing his when his hand went to her face, deepening it. When she finally pulled away she raised an eyebrow. "You really know what you're doing."

He shrugged nonchalantly. "It's a gift."

She laughed before she blushed bright crimson as she noticed the tennis ball-like eyes on her. "The house elves are watching us," she whispered before bolting to her feet. His eyes widened, he'd forgotten where they were and more importantly, who they were with. He quickly but carefully got to his feet, straightening his bowtie and avoiding eye contact with everybody as he made his way to the cupboards. Clara followed after, careful not to look any elf in the eye. It was unlike her to be that careless, she thought. But given the circumstances of the day she felt that it made enough sense that she would be a little more care-free than she usually would.

"What are you doing?" she asked quietly when she finally had the bravery to speak at all. "Making you one of the best dishes known to… well known to _anyone_. And by anyone, I mean me. Honestly, I'm surprised this hasn't caught on yet," he replied, pulling a bowl out. He was still flabbergasted that Amy and Rory were the only ones willing to eat it.

"What is it?" Clara asked, intrigued. "Are you gonna make a soufflé?"

"No, they don't have enough spare milk. I checked. It's a surprise what I'm making instead. Wait over there and sit down," he said, pointing to a couch tilted away from the main cooking area. She sighed and obediently went to sit down. She had a great time talking to two house elves. Both of whom were wearing cute little dresses and seemed to love Clara's too.

"We house elves used to be treated terribly," one of them (Molly) said. "Thank goodness for SPEW. Did you know the witch who organised it used to go here? She was always very kind to Molly, Beatrice and the other elves."

Thankfully for the Doctor, the elves had gone to clean some portraits just before they had finished cooking. He left the carefully organised bowl on the counter as he went over to Clara. He rubbed his hands together excitedly. "Okay, you're gonna need to take that off," he said, pointing to her scarf.

Her eyes widened. "I'm sorr-oh my scarf!" She did it first and put it beside her before asking, "Why?"

"I want you to guess what it is," he explained, picking it up and wrapping it around her eyes. "Can you see anything?" he asked.

"No," she answered honestly. Well, she could kind of see blue and bronze stripes but not for long as it was uncomfortable opening her eyes when the fabric was so close. She just kept them shut and awaited the surprise.

The Doctor quickly returned to the couch, bowl in hand. He picked up one and handed it to her carefully, not wanting to make a mess. The texture felt odd but familiar. She put it in her mouth, not expecting the first flavour that hit her tongue. She ate it anyway, her mind ticking away at what it could be.

"Well, I'm pretty sure it's custard," she guessed.

"Correct. You're never gonna get the other. If you do I'll give you a week supply of Jammie Dodgers."

"What are Jammie Dodgers?"

"You'll find out if you guess!"

She sighed, trying to remember. He gave her another to refresh her memory. It wasn't a very normal dish but it was kind of tasty. "Why am I thinking fish?" she asked. Fish definitely did not feel like that. Was it the smell? With her sight cut off she felt her senses were being muffled.

"Ding ding ding!"

"Wait did I get it right?" she asked, shocked.

"As close as you could get most likely if you don't take Muggle Studies. Which you don't."

Clara took off the scarf, blinking to adjust to the brightness. "That looks so ugly," she commented, looking at the bowl of fish and custard. "It doesn't look like fish."

"That's the thing – muggles don't have magic but that doesn't stop them from doing extraordinary things! I think they're fascinating. This," he said, holding up one of the treats, "is a fish finger."

"A fish . . . finger?" Clara asked slowly. She was pretty sure fish didn't have fingers.

"Yes. They cook the fish do a little muggle whizam and pow – fish fingers," he explained, seeming mystified and excited.

"That is fantastic," Clara said, acting more interested than she actually was. "You really think muggles are fascinating?" she asked curiously.

"Of course. They can't just say 'lumos' and have light so they found a way to have light efficiently and without fire. They invented light bulbs! Electricity, etcetera, etcetera. Almost everything they could ever possibly need or want, they found a way to make."

Clara smiled. She never thought of it that way. She'd felt sorry for muggles and certainly admitted that it was impressive how well they managed without depending on magic but the Doctor seemed so genuinely admiring of them.

"Yeah, that's pretty cool," she agreed.

"Oi you're stealing my word, Oswald!" he complained, pretending to be offended.

She shoved him jokingly, careful not to let the custard spill all over him. They finished the small bowl of fish fingers and stayed in the kitchen for two hours or so before dinner, sometimes talking to the house elves, sometimes talking to each other and for a while, playing pirates with giant spoons and out of use pots (Clara was convinced he cheated).

"So, are we still on for after?" he asked quietly before they entered the Great Hall.

"Fine," Clara answered plainly.

"Fine? Well alright. See you then, Soufflé Girl."

"I'll see you, Chin Boy."

* * *

***A/N: Thank you for reading, I hope you liked it. Please let me know your thoughts because it encourages me to write more which I should really be doing rather than browsing Amazon for things I can't afford.**


	8. Chapter 8

***A/N: I'm really sorry about the wait - I didn't realise it had already been a week until yesterday I'm sorry. To make up for it this chapter's double the average size so far. I hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter Eight**

Clara tiptoed to their portrait, pulling it aside to find the Doctor already inside with his wand lit. Probably didn't want to be suspicious waiting outside, she thought. Once she stepped inside, the Doctor beamed. "I thought you wouldn't come," he admitted.

"How very little faith you have in me," Clara replied in a low voice, attempting to echo his.

He sniggered at the reference and casually took hold of her hand. "Come on, Clara," he said as he started to walk through the tunnel. Each time they used the tunnel, it seemed to be quicker now that Clara wasn't afraid something was going to creep up behind her. Amy and Rory on the other hand was a possibility.

"Is there a _reason_ why you want to go ghost-hunting?" she asked.

"Because I've never done it before – isn't it exciting?" he answered excitedly.

"Do you have _any_ idea what you're doing?"

"None at all," he said comfortably, not noticing the slight worry in her tone.

"Great."

They reached the exit soon after, the Doctor subconsciously conjuring the ladder and opening the lock.

"After you," he said, his hand swinging towards the rungs.

Clara didn't bother arguing and began to climb, light drops of rain falling to her face as she came closer to the top. Outside the grass was damp but luckily it seemed as though it had only been raining a minute or so given the lack of mud. She zipped her coat as she waited for the Doctor to catch up. Clara's eyes drifted to the Shrieking Shack ahead and she tried not to let the nerves she'd buried so deep she'd forgotten resurface. Her thoughts were interrupted, keeping the nerves buried when she felt cold fingers tickle her lower back.

She screeched quietly as she whipped round, her hand smacking his away in a swift, instinctive chopping motion. "Don't!" she said, stifling a laugh.

The Doctor grinned and leaned in, giving her a sweet kiss. "Kissing in the rain? Seriously, Doctor? I thought you were above clichés like that," she said teasingly.

He rolled his eyes. "We better get going," he said, looking up at the cloudy sky. The rain was getting heavier. "We've got work to do."

* * *

"Aloho-" Clara began, pointing her wand at the door. Her wand wasn't registered with the Ministry of Magic over here, she was pretty sure the Ministry it _was_ registered with was a bit preoccupied with war to give a damn about some underage magic.

"No, no!" the Doctor interrupted. "This place has been bought now we can't just charm our way in. At least not in the literal sense." The Doctor simply knocked on the door. How Hufflepuff, Clara thought.

They heard footsteps and the door was soon thrust open by a man who looked to be in his late 30s/early 40s with black hair and glasses.

Before he could say anything the Doctor spoke. "Boo!" Clara stared, wondering what exactly was going to happen. Was the man seriously going to let two school kids go looking for ghosts in his house? "I'm looking for the ghost." Well the Doctor was certainly going to try.

"And you are?" he asked.

"I'm John Smith but you can call me the Doctor – in fact, please do call me the Doctor. Forget I told you my name was John – this is Clara Oswald, we're from the Ministry and we're here to look for ghosts," he answered, stepping inside and brushing past the man.

Clara smiled and followed him. That was one way to get in. She'd known the house to be dark and dusty, like it hadn't been used in generations but it wasn't as bad as she'd expected. The floorboards still creaked and were covered in dust, there was broken bits of furniture scattered around but the buyer had at least tried to make it more welcoming by cleaning up a bit and having gas lamps at regular intervals. The Doctor found his way around easily and was soon in a brightly lit room which had been furnished to almost the standard of a normal home.

The man chased after them slowly. "What are you doing? You can't just come into my house."

"Wait so you live here properly?" Clara asked, ignoring his implication of 'get out'.

"Starting to, yes."

"But why? I thought you bought it for the ghost stuff."

"I did."

"So you want to actually _live_ with an old ghost that's haunting this place?"

"Not old," the Doctor informed. "All that time people thought it was haunted because of the screaming, the howling they heard but it was actually a werewolf."

The owner opened his mouth only to be interrupted by the Doctor again, "Sorry, I'm clever," he apologised, waving his hand as if it was a burden.

Clara raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Wait so it's _not_ haunted?"

The Doctor opened his mouth but this time the owner interrupted him. "It is now, which is why I bought it. I pieced together the werewolf thing during my time at Hogwarts. I was classmates _with_ the werewolf. I never said anything because he wasn't hurting anyone."

"Ah you knew!" the Doctor said in relief. "Thank goodness, this would take a lot longer if I had to try and convince you that your life beliefs were wrong."

"How come it's haunted now? Who's haunting it?" Clara asked.

"_That_ is what we're here to find out."

"Sounds great. Only problem is, _how_ do we find out?"

The owner smirked. "I think I'm prepared. Now, why don't you go back to the castle – don't think I believe that you're really from the ministry."

"We are! We're student trainees. I think some of the ministry discovered that they've been putting idiots in charge for years and it was about time they actually involved the youth since, it was seventeen year olds who put an end to the war," the Doctor said, smiling with a hint of 'we know I'm right so can we move on?' in his expression.

It was then that another witch came into the room. "Hello," she said, not seeming surprised by the two stranger's presence at all.

"Emma, I was just telling them that they should go."

"Why? They're both clever and brave. They can help us, Alec."

The Doctor beamed and pointed at Emma. "Oh you're a seer!"

She nodded, blushing.

"So you need our help," the Doctor said, sounding more grateful than boastful.

Alec reluctantly nodded. "We could do with maybe some extra hands," he admitted.

The Doctor clapped his own hands together and smiled broadly. "Excellent!" He turned to a table of instruments Alec and Emma had lain out and gestured for Clara to come over. She did as he wanted, hopping to his side.

"What is all this stuff?" Clara asked, reaching to pick up an item that resembled a telescope before the Doctor swatted her hand away. Clara glared at him and he embarrassingly looked at her, murmuring a soft "Sorry."

"Are you gonna tell me?" she asked, still glaring.

"Well I don't know what all of it does but they're all for finding the ghost and doing ghosty things."

"Oh I knew that," she said, sounding disappointed. "Why'd you get me to come over then?"

"Because I wanted to have a look and I don't like you being on your own," he answered as though it was the most obvious answer he'd ever given.

Whatever trace of the glare that was left on Clara's face vanished as her smile grew. She leaned closer to his ear and whispered, "I'd kiss you but we have company."

The Doctor grinned before picking up a book from the table. He dropped it to the floor, allowing it to make a loud clatter as a few specks of dust fluttered from it.

Alec gave a startled jump. "_What are you doing_?" he asked.

"Most frequently opened page," the Doctor answered, bending down to inspect the page it had opened on.

"Now _why_ are you looking at this?" he asked grimly, his voice barely a whisper.

Alec's face flushed slightly, noticing the Doctor's change in mood. "Well, the ghost activity started soon after . . . I thought maybe that one of them might be the ghost. If I knew that I could find a relat-"

"Yeah I see," the Doctor said, looking slightly embarrassed that he hadn't put the pieces together faster. He stood up, avoiding looking at the book.

Clara bent down to see what had shaken him so much to see pictures of kids. Mostly kids anyway, almost all of whom were wearing Hogwarts robes. Her eyes flickered from one picture to another, smiling faces looking up at her. She'd been so busy looking for people she recognised in the pictures – she didn't find anyone – that she'd almost missed the fading heading.

_Victims of the Battle of Hogwarts (May 2nd 1998)_

Under each of the pictures were names and birth dates, all of which were followed by the same digits: _02/05/98_. Clara shuddered. She understood what they meant now. Alec believed that one of them was most likely to be the ghost and he wanted to find out whom.

The Doctor cleared his throat and shook his head, removing his emotions for the case at hand. "Well, have you got any idea? What's your best hunch?"

Emma answered for him. "We're still not sure, but we think someone very young – too young to understand what it was they were doing when they became a ghost – or someone who knew their death would be the end of the world for someone so they felt the need to stay in contact."

The Doctor almost laughed. "And that's it is it? Your best guess is someone young out of about 50-something slaughtered school students?" Clara felt her knees weaken and she was grateful she was still bent close to the ground so it wouldn't cause a fuss that she sat down.

As she looked at the pictures she couldn't help but see the faces morph into ones she knew from home. That second year boy with the bucked teeth and curls, the girl who always sat at the back of her potions class, the girl with the freckles and orange pigtails… She bit the inside of her cheek as she tried to forget what was happening back home. Her dad was alive but for how long more?

Alec and Emma both blushed. "It's the best we could do. If we knew who it was we'd have this ghost deal sorted in no time," Alec explained.

"Aren't you a seer?" the Doctor asked, looking to Emma.

"Well yes I am but it…it's not working."

"Not working? How?"

"Usually, I make the connection easily and I can talk to them. Sometimes it is a little trickier and we need to find a relative to strengthen the link – but with this…" she trailed off, not wanting to talk about what she felt.

"But what?" Clara asked, finally able to speak.

"But when I try and make the connection I can feel them dying. And it's like – it's like they were waiting for it. Like they knew it was coming. But I still have no idea who it is," she said grimly, fiddling with her watch necklace.

"War going on…he or she was bound to have witnessed the destruction. It wasn't uncommon to be ready to die . . ." he said, his face paling with every syllable.

Clara looked up at him in surprise at the chills his words sent down her spine. He was talking about someone who was likely to be a _child_. No child should ever be ready to die. She wanted to go home.

"We've been going through each person, we've tried about sixteen so far. We contacted the families – or friends if there's no family left," Alec said casually, "to see if we could have anything that belonged to them since in this situation we decided it was too risky to try a blood connection."

The Doctor nodded in understanding. "And none of them have been the right one yet," he stated to quicken the story.

"Exactly," Alec confirmed regretfully.

The Doctor forced a smile and clapped his hands together to create a false sense of comfort. "Well, better try again – I'm clever, did I mention? Trust me, with the combined help of me and my associate, Clara here I'm sure we'll have the job done in a flash."

* * *

"What are you doing?" Clara asked as he wrapped a dirty brown strip of thin metal around the spine of his wand. "Makes magic undetectable," he explained in a whisper, not wanting to completely blow their Ministry cover. If they were from the Ministry, there would probably be no need to do that.

"How do you know that?"

"Have you not realised yet? I'm incredibly clever!"

"Yeah I know, you've only said it ten dozen times." Clara snickered before remembering that he was about to go properly hunting a dead teenager. Well maybe not hunting but looking for a ghost all the same.

"_Lumos_," he said, his wand glowing.

"And what do you need to use that spell for?" she asked, hoping he wasn't planning on turning off all the other lights in the room.

"We're going to find the ghost," he said obviously. "Alec and the Mrs are gone to get a mirror so I thought-"

"What mirror?"

"The mirror I found out they weren't using and told them to use – _anyway_, I thought now would be a great time to do some investigating of my own."

Clara folded her arms and turned away. "Have fun," she said in a high pitched voice. The Doctor tapped her on the head.

"By _my _own I meant _us_," he explained impatiently.

"I know."

"Then are you coming or what?"

"Fine," she whispered. Clara turned back and frowned, a mischievous gleam in her eye. "Dare me."

"I dare you. No takesies-backsies," he whispered.

Clara shook her head and grinned, assuring him that she would live up to the 'no takesies-backsies' condition. She tried not to think about who the ghost once was and she knew he was doing the same.

They wandered quietly through the massive house, avoiding the attic where Alec and Emma had gone to get the mirror, until they came to an old room with nothing but a battered piano.

"Do you feel anything?" he asked.

"No," she lied.

"Your pants are so on fire."

Clara glared uneasily. "Do you feel like you're being watched?"

"What does being watched feel like? Is it that funny tickly feeling on your neck?"

"That's the chap."

"Then, yes, a bit. Well, quite a big bit…what do you say, turn off the light?"

"NO!" she yelled instinctively.

"Do we have to?" she asked.

He smiled in apology as he nodded.

"Worst first date ever," Clara said loudly, but remaining in her whispered tone.

The Doctor whispered, "_Nox,_" putting the room in total darkness.

"Was that _really_ necessary?"

"Everyone knows the dark is the easiest magic-free way to get a ghost out of hiding."

There was the clear sound of soft footsteps.

"Is that you?" Clara asked hopefully.

"Is what me?"

"Those footsteps."

"Uh no. Is it you?"

"Don't think so, no."

"Oh well in that case…I think we should probably run now."

"That's a plan I can jump aboard," she agreed, grabbing his hand and running, narrowly avoiding the wall as they stumbled through complete black.

They rushed down the corridor until they came back to the overwhelmingly comforting, lit room.

"What's wrong?" Alec and Emma both asked as they stared, open mouthed at the two pale Ministry-trainees.

"You're so pale you could be the ghost!" Emma said, rushing over and putting a hand on Clara's shoulder to make sure she was alright.

"Well we found it, no biggie," the Doctor said through a soundless laugh.

"_WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING_?" Clara demanded to know.

He stopped. "Because, it's fu- exciting."

Clara folded her arms and glared at him. That was not very fun. He smirked and booped her on the nose before walking towards the white clothed object that Alec was still standing beside. He swiftly pulled off the cloth to reveal the mirror behind.

Clara gasped, "But that's – but that's not possible," she said, approaching it. "That's – that's the Mirror of Erised!"

Alec nodded, proudly. "It came into my possession. Dumbledore tried to have it destroyed but that was easier said than done. It was cloaked, hidden, buried, moved and eventually a year ago it ended up in a Gringotts vault. It was sold in secret from person to person until I got it."

"I assume you've both stood in front of it," the Doctor guessed.

"Yes. But Dumbledore did manage to make a couple of alterations. It no longer shows what you desire the most but what you desire in the present moment. Or at least that's what it's supposed to do. The bloomin' thing won't work properly," Alec complained.

"Ah I see – that is good. What you desire the most in the moment you stand in front of it here is to know the ghost. Marvellous idea if it worked…but how do we _get_ it to work? There must be a way." He scratched his chin in thought when Clara piped up.

"Maybe it's not showing who the ghost is because they don't know the ghost. It will show what you desire but it can't show what you can't see, am I right?"

The Doctor pointed to Clara once she finished speaking, a look of amazement on his face. "See that!" he said to the others who both looked almost embarrassed that they hadn't realised before. "Clara. Is. A. _Genius_." He walked to her quickly, holding her head to give her a quick kiss on the forehead. He twirled around and straightened his bowtie. "I guess this means me," he said with a tone of faked confidence. He put his hands behind his back and strode in front of the mirror.

He stood there for seconds before an image twisted into view, appearing from behind him. At first he smiled before his face flushed red.

"What's wrong? What is it?" Clara asked, noticing the embarrassment and confusion on his face. He slowly turned his head to look at her and he grew an even brighter shade of crimson.

"Doctor, what did you see? _Who _did you see?" Clara asked worriedly.

He noticed the panic in her tone so he decided to answer honestly. "I saw you," he answered sheepishly. Clara's eyes widened and she felt herself flush slightly.

"Oh for god's sake," Alec murmured. "This is the last time I try and work with teenagers. Emma didn't even get the chance to start the bloody spell."

Clara smiled bashfully at the Doctor before volunteering. "I can try," she offered.

"You know what is going to happen if it works?" the Doctor asked. He couldn't help but feel uneasy at the idea of Clara doing this.

Alec sighed but nodded. Clara patted the Doctor's cheek playfully and stepped in front of the mirror as Emma started the spell.

"Oh my stars," Clara whispered as she looked into the mirror, "But it can't it's – I'm not-" she felt a flash of shock and then Clara was somewhere else. Hiding in the back of her own mind as the ghost took over.

"I'm not a ghost," it spoke through Clara's lips. "I'm simply an echo. An echo of what happened."

"This is extraordinary!" Alec said, grabbing a notebook and quill, jotting down the words she said as fast as he could.

"How can we help you?" Emma asked.

"You must shatter the watch. The watch is all I am. I am nothing without it. Shatter the watch and I will cease to exist. Peace at last."

"But _who_ are you?" the Doctor asked.

"I am death." Clara knew that was a lie but she couldn't say it. The ghost wouldn't let her. "I am an echo of the death and destruction that happened at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardy that fatal yet prosperous night."

"An echo?" Emma asked, a look of enchantment on her face as she held her watch necklace between her thumb. "Is that really all?"

"It is. Now destroy it. Destroy the watch you received that night."

Emma unlocked it from the back and tossed it to the ground, unshaken at all by the job the echo was asking her to do. "It was my mother's," she explained. "She gave it to me that night as a remembrance of the time we'd escaped from. But I don't want to remember." She withdrew her wand, pointed it at the wand and whispered, "Incendio."

The watch burst into a crackling flame.

"Must remember. Remember me," the echo spoke before spilling out of Clara's body into nothingness. Clara gasped and fell to her knees in relief.

Emma put out the flame with, "Aguamenti" and the Doctor rushed to Clara's side. "Are you alright?" he asked, frantically, rubbing her head and pulling her into a hug.

"I'm fine," she said, laughing into his shoulder. She didn't know why she was laughing. It was hardly a funny situation, but the relief of it was too much to not laugh. It was a lot better than crying out of relief. The Doctor sighed happily and laughed as he shifted to look at her face.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he repeated as a precaution.

"Positive," she said, leaning in to kiss him briefly to stop him asking again.

Alec – who appeared to have been hugging Emma – cleared his throat. "Well, thank you, Clara – and you too, Doctor. But mostly, Clara," he said with a smile.

The two of them smiled back even though the Doctor pretended he was offended. The Doctor's mind wandered until he remembered something. "Clara, when you first stepped in front of the mirror you said things-" he began.

"Don't bother," Clara interrupted with a sigh. "I can't remember anything that happened once I stood in front of it."

He smiled, curiosity still tapping at his skull. He shook it off, deciding it was best to not discuss the matters in front of the mirror. He still couldn't believe that it had shown him Clara.

They had a quick discussion with Emma and Alec before Emma finally said, "You two better be getting back to the castle – wouldn't want McGonagall finding out about this now, would you?" she asked. The Doctor had a feeling she knew they weren't from the Ministry.

He laughed. "Yeah you're right."

"Frankly, I don't want her finding out about it either," Alec added, "She is a scary woman when she wants to be. I don't fancy being scolded at this time in my life for letting two kids go ghost hunting in my house."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Martha knocked softly on Clara's door the next morning. "You in there?" she asked, loud enough for it to be heard through the wood but not too harsh to make a sleeping girl want to murder her.

"Yeah, what is it?" Clara asked, straightening her earrings in the mirror before going to open the door.

"Oh good, you're dressed," Martha said, quickly scanning her skirt and floral jumper. "Everyone's been called down to the TARDIS."

"What? What's the TARDIS?"

"Don't you know? God I assumed _someone_ would have told you. It's just like a part of the school except it's sort of like one big common room for all the houses to go..." Martha trailed off, a smile on her face.

Clara was intrigued so she headed out her door straight away, her wand safely secured in her boot. "Do you know what for?" she asked.

Martha shook her head. "Not a clue. Anyway, I gotta go tell the others. I'm pretty sure the Doctor's still waiting for you outside anyway." She said the last sentence with a wiggle of her eyebrows and laughed, heading off.

Clara bit her lip, running giddily outside of the house. He was sitting at the foot of the top step, turned away from the entrance and sulking with his head supporting that massive chin of his.

She giggled inwardly, not daring to make a sound and spoil it. She tiptoed up behind him and when she was just inches from him she screamed, "Boo!"

He jumped and instinctively turned around too quickly, losing his balance and falling down a considerable amount of steps until the curve in the staircase disabled him from going any further.

Clara clapped a hand over her mouth, eyes widened and ran down to where he was laughing – or was he crying? "_Are you okay_?" she asked, putting a hand behind his head to keep him from smashing it against the cold, hard steps again.

He groaned, rubbing his face. "I should have known you'd be a piece of work, Oswald." His complaint was laced with laughter. "But I couldn't have predicted this after just one date."

Clara laughed, mostly in relief that she hadn't accidentally killed him. "I'm sorry," she said, stroking his head as she knew that was the most painful place to injure.

He sat up straight, shaking his head. "You're forgiven. Just please _don't_ do that again," he said, stroking her knee to give some reassurance that he wasn't mad. They were at the same height now, given that Clara was two steps higher than him.

She smiled and stood up, taking his hand to help him up. He was back to being taller now and he grinned looking down at her. "Well no more time to waste, we've got somewhere to be," she reminded, brushing past him and treading down ahead.

The Doctor lead the way to the TARDIS. At the Astronomy Tower, they turned left and walked up the old, treacherous spiral stairs. The stairs kept going and going until it curled outside of the school.

The cool, morning breeze tickled their skin as they wandered higher, their pace absent-mindedly slowing as they took in the picturesque view of the Hogwarts grounds. New parts of the castle sprung into sight as the two of them strolled up the stairs as it twisted seamlessly around the spire of the old ancient tower. Clara had almost forgotten she had been walking until her hand was no longer brushing along the cold railing. She looked away from the sparkling lake and turned to see what was in front of her. A soft gasp escaped her lips as she saw where she was standing.

For a few moments that felt like an eternity she just looked around in blissful awe. They were standing on a cloud. Her eyes flicked to the Doctor who'd been standing silently, smiling softly at her.

"A cloud?"

"A cloud." He smiled. "Don't have enchanted clouds at Beauxbattons do they?"

Clara shook her head, giggling slightly. The Doctor extended his arm, helping her up from the last step. She took it and cautiously put her foot forward. She wasn't sure why she was afraid to do it – the Doctor was standing there with no problems – but it was the entire idea of clouds. They were things that you always want to reach when you're a child and try your best to do when you first learn to fly a broom; and when you finally reach it's only to find that your hand goes straight through it. Clouds weren't things you stood on easily.

The air around her ankles was cold, like the tiny droplets of rain were kissing her feet. She looked to the Doctor, a gleam catching her eye and she smiled.

"Off we go then, Ms. Oswald?" he asked, offering his arm. Clara linked with it and nodded. "To the TARDIS, Mr. Smith."

They jokingly took huge, synchronised steps forward as though in an army. After a few steps they finally spotted the little blue box.

"Is that it?" Clara asked sceptically. "What's a police public call box anyway? Is it like a snogging booth?"

The Doctor guffawed. "_A snogging booth_? No of course not!"

Clara tilted her head and looked at it for a second before smirking. "I'll be the judge of that," she said, speeding inside.

The Doctor grinned, childishly happy as he was tugged inside by the arm. They entered the TARDIS to see the entire school packed comfortably inside, erupting into giddy cheers as the pair entered.

There was a circular table in the centre, with a Gryffindor who seemed to be having a particularly good time standing on top with a glass of butterbeer in hand, chuckling loudly.

"He didn't," the Doctor murmured.

"Oh but I think he did," Clara said.

"A big welcome to the happy couple!" Jack shouted from the table, clapping his hands.

"He's even got a banner!" the Doctor said to her, pointing to the yellow and blue strip of fabric strung across the room with _John and Clara Forever_ inscribed. "_Who gets a banner_?"

Clara felt herself rendered so speechless that the only sound she could make was a laugh.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, trying to pretend his cheeks weren't bright red. "He really needs to get a life," he murmured to Clara.

"I guess I'm not the only one who thought it was a snogbox," Clara whispered in response.

Jack tapped his glass with his wand. "Now now let's not scare them away. I feel it's my responsibility as host to take full credit for bringing this lovely pair together. And I also would like to add that it is certainly _not_ too early for a party and that this was the only sure-fire way we could all get up here without getting caught. So yeah, we can worry about the professors discovering there's no one in the building later. Enjoy!"

"Are you gonna kill him?" Clara asked the Doctor.

"Oh yeah. He _really_ needs to stop calling me John."

* * *

***A/N: Please let me know what you think!**


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